The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in Science. The lowest is 21% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cheylin Elementary
Cheylin Elementary serves prekindergarten through sixth grade in Bird City, a very small agricultural town in northwest Kansas set among rolling wheat fields and cattle-grazing land. The school is part of the Cheylin district, which was formed through the consolidation of Bird City and McDonald schools. The surrounding economy is driven by agriculture, local small businesses, and the school district itself, and the town’s character is quiet and residential with community events as a central feature of daily life.
With an enrollment that is small for its grade band, the school operates in a setting where class sizes are naturally contained and students across multiple grades are familiar with one another. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and a very small number of Black and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of a rural agricultural community.
State testing data from the most recent year shows a mixed picture across subjects and grades. In third-grade math, about one in five students scored at or above the proficient level. Fourth-grade math reported no students meeting that bar. Fifth-grade math saw a notably higher share reach proficiency. In English language arts, fourth-grade proficiency was reported at the same level as third-grade math, while fifth-grade ELA came in somewhat higher. Fifth-grade science results fell between those two. Testing participation rates were not available, and the state changed its cut scores for math and ELA in this year, so year-over-year trend comparisons are not possible. Kansas uses the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) for its state testing. A parent may want to ask the school about the supports in place for literacy and math, especially for the early-elementary grades where the proficiency numbers are softest.
Because the school serves only prekindergarten through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school environment section did not include discipline data, course access information, or staffing numbers, so a picture of those elements is not available from the recorded data.
Housing in the Bird City area is well below the national and state benchmarks for home values, and the local market has been appreciating at a faster pace than the national average, though from a lower base. The broad economic context shows a national unemployment rate around low single digits and a real median household income that has risen modestly over the past several years.
When compared to other districts in Cheyenne County on an overall proficiency index that averages across tested subjects and grades, Cheylin Elementary places above the midpoint. The county is home to two school districts total. This tells a reader that within a small, rural comparison set, the school performs in the middle ground.
For a family considering this school, the takeaway is straightforward. Cheylin Elementary is a small, rural school where most students come from agricultural or local-service backgrounds, and where a majority of families have low to moderate incomes. The academic results are uneven across grade levels and subjects, with some grades showing a meaningful share of students reaching proficiency and others where very few do. The school does not serve high school grades, so families will need to consider the secondary options within the Cheylin district separately. The Bird City community itself is stable but not growing, with a focus on preservation and heritage events rather than expansion.
See more original research from School Decision →